Electrodeposition of iron and iron-aluminium alloys in an ionic liquid and their magnetic properties.

In this work we show that nanocrystalline iron and iron-aluminium alloys can be electrodeposited from the ionic liquid 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium trifluoromethylsulfonate, [Py1,4]TfO, at 100 °C. The study comprises CV, SEM, XRD, and magnetic measurements. Two different sources of iron(ii) species, Fe(TfO)2 and FeCl2, were used for the electrodeposition of iron in [Py1,4]TfO. Cyclic voltammetry was employed to evaluate the electrochemical behavior of FeCl2, Fe(TfO)2, and (FeCl2 + AlCl3) in the employed ionic liquid. Thick iron deposits were obtained from FeCl2/[Py1,4]TfO at 100 °C. Electrodeposition of iron-aluminium alloys was successful in the same ionic liquid at 100 °C. The morphology and crystallinity of the obtained deposits were investigated using SEM and XRD, respectively. XRD measurements reveal the formation of iron-aluminium alloys. First magnetic measurements of some deposits gave relatively high coercive forces and power losses in comparison to commercial iron-silicon samples due to the small grain size in the nanometer regime. The present study shows the feasibility of preparing magnetic alloys from ionic liquids.